Rainbow birthday: there are many fun birthday party themes for kids nowadays. I think Pinterest has something to do with it. The possibilities are endless! When I received this cookie request, I was excited and worried at the same time. I was excited because I love using as much color as possible in cookies. I was worried because I only had two days to complete these cookies. It's hard to believe this little girl is already three years old! Seems like yesterday I made these cookies for her mother's baby shower.

The color palette for the cookies was already set, which allowed me to make and tint the icing in advance, so it would nicely saturated. I was told the birthday party would be at our local zoo, so I used all the different animals. Many of the animals I made came from this set. To keep with the rainbow theme, I thought of making the animals different colors with monochromatic details. I piped and flooded each animal in its desired color. Once the icing had dried, I added in details with piping icing. I made some simple royal icing eyes ahead of time, and added them on as the final touch.

The lower case letter "e" is from this set. The "e" cookies at the top of the photo were made in every color. I piped and flooded the cookies with white icing. While still wet, I added the colored dots. When the icing had dried, I added the outline in same color as dots with piping icing. The "e" in the lower left corner was piped and flooded with white icing and allowed to dry for a few hours. I came back and piped lines with piping icing. The "e" on the bottom right started out the same way. Once dry, I took this stencil and laid it on top of the cookie. I took my PME Scriber Needle and poked tiny holes in the icing where each dot would end up. Then I piped over those tiny holes with the different icing colors.

Finally the "3" cookie cutter is from here. I piped the three with white icing and flooded it. While the icing was still wet, I added the dots. I used a few different patterns for the dots.